Knockin' on Heaven's Door
| "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bob Dylan | ||||
| from the album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid | ||||
| B-side | "Turkey Chase" | |||
| Released | August 1973[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:32 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan | |||
| Producer(s) | Gordon Carroll | |||
| Bob Dylan singles chronology | ||||
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"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Randy Crawford, and more.
Described by Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin as "an exercise in splendid simplicity",[3] the song features two short verses, the lyrics of which comment directly on the scene in the film for which it was written: the death of a frontier lawman (Slim Pickens) who refers to his wife (Katy Jurado) as "Mama".[4]
It was ranked number 190 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[5] and number 192 in 2010,[6] but excluded from the revised list in 2021.
- ^ "Billboard". Billboard. August 25, 1973.
- ^ a b Abercrombie, Olivia; Mitchell, Matt (March 10, 2024). "The 50 Best Original Songs Written for Films". Paste. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ Heylin, Clinton (2009). Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973. Chicago Review Press. p. 434.
- ^ TonyAttwood (September 30, 2019). "Knockin on Heaven's door: change, change again. | Untold Dylan". Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004 101-200". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008.
- ^ "192. Bob Dylan, 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 8, 2022.